Chance the Rapper Sued for Allegedly Sampling a Jazz Song on 'Windows' Without Permission

A jazz composer has filed a lawsuit against the 24-year-old rapper, who allegedly sampled 'Bridge Through Time' on his hit song 'Windows' off his debut EP '10 Day'.

Chance the Rapper is sued for copyright infringement. Jazz composer Abdul Muhammad Ali, formerly known as Eric P. Saunders, filed the lawsuit on Tuesday, September 12, alleging that the Chicago rapper sampled "a significant portion" of his work on "Windows", a track off Chance's 2012 debut mixtape "10 Day".

The plaintiff claims the song contains portions of Lonnie Liston Smith's "Bridge Through Time", a song which Muhammad composed. The composer first registered the copyright for the track in 1979. He is asking a federal judge to order Chance or anyone working with the spitter to stop "copying, distributing, performing, selling or offering to sell Chance's song 'Windows'."

In the eight-page lawsuit, Muhammad claims that he never granted Chance the permission to use the sample. He first became aware of "Windows" in April and reached out to the rapper's management in May to request a "cease further infringement of the copyright." However, he did not receive a response.

While "Windows" was featured on a free mixtape, the song "was popular and helped to elevate Chance's career, which in turn spawned concerts, concert sales, sales of merchandise and other sources of revenue," according to the complaint. It alleges willful infringement, which runs $150,000 in damages for each violated work.

"Chance's copyright infringement was willful," the suit reads. "Chance knew that he did not have permission to use any part of Muhammad's copyrighted song, yet he used a significant portion of 'Brige Through Time' in his song 'Windows.' Chance also distributed his song 'Windows' knowing of the infringement, or acting in willful disregard for whether the song was the subject of the copyright."

"This complaint seeks damages from Chance, and from his company established to license Chance's merchandise and to promote Chance's concerts and other performances, for Chance's blatant and willful infringement of Muhammad's copyright," it adds.